Zoeller Pulls Out at Greensboro

Choking back tears and saying he couldn’t continue playing competitive golf until he can personally apologize to Tiger Woods, Fuzzy Zoeller on Wednesday withdrew from this week’s Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic in Greensboro, N.C.

“I am trying to reach him and he’s a very hard man to get ahold of,” Zoeller said. “I am the one who screwed up and I will pay the price.”

The surprising move came one day after Kmart severed its ties with Zoeller because of his remarks. Zoeller again read a statement apologizing for calling Woods “that little boy” and urging him not to request fried chicken and collard greens at the champions dinner when he returns to Augusta National next year.

Pro Football

An Alameda County grand jury sharply criticized the deal that brought the Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles. The eight-page report came two days after officials announced that the city and county will have to split $8 million in the 1997-98 fiscal year to cover the deal. City and county officials should not have assumed such a financial risk, the 19-member grand jury said.

The Atlanta Falcons have released veteran safety Patrick Bates, who on April 16 was charged with beating his ex-girlfriend while she fed their 3-year-old son. . . . Quarterback Ryan Fien, who left UCLA for Idaho to show his skills for the NFL, signed a free-agent contract with the Raiders. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles released kicker Gary Anderson, 37, five weeks after signing free agent Chris Boniol.

College Football

Tennessee, UCLA’s second opponent next season, may have lost wide receiver Peerless Price for the season because of a broken right ankle, suffered during a scrimmage last weekend. Price caught 32 passes for 609 yards and three touchdowns last season. . . . Nashville has received NCAA approval to stage a postseason game, the Music City Bowl, beginning in December 1998.

Tennis

Jim Courier and Yevgeny Kafelnikov joined the list of Grand Slam tournament champions bounced from the Monte Carlo Open in Monaco. Third-seeded Kafelnikov, last year’s French Open winner, lost to Norwegian Christian Ruud, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, and the 13th-seeded Courier, a two-time French Open champion, was beaten by Mark Philippoussis of Australia, 7-5, 7-5. . . . Fourth-seeded Alex O’Brien capitalized on an aggressive, attacking style to beat Denmark’s Kenneth Carlsen, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Jurisprudence

A group of five former major league baseball players scored a victory in their lawsuit against major league baseball and Major League Baseball Properties when a judge in Oakland signed an order that certifies that the lawsuit also represents about 400 players in a similar situation. The players allege they have not been paid fairly for the use of their names and images by major league baseball.

Two Virginia Tech football players, fullback Brian Edmonds and receiver James Crawford, were indicted in Blacksburg, Va., on a charge of raping a student in their apartment last December. Edmonds is negotiating a free-agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks.

Miscellany

Top-ranked and two-time defending NCAA men’s volleyball champion UCLA meets UC Santa Barbara after Stanford faces Brigham Young in the semifinals of the PowerBar/MPSF championships today at Pauley Pavilion. The first match begins at 4:30 p.m. The championship match will be Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The winner earns a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Paul Bravo scored the only goal as the Colorado Rapids defeated the Dallas Burn, 1-0, before 4,120 in Denver’s Mile High Stadium, the smallest crowd in Major League Soccer history.

Former world champions Simon Brown and Lonnie Smith scored convincing victories at Las Vegas. Brown stopped David Mendez after seven rounds in a middleweight bout, and Smith knocked out Miguel Gonzalez of Mexico at 2:05 of the fifth in a welterweight fight.

The foal of Kentucky Derby winners Winning Colors and Unbridled died during a difficult birth at Gainesway Farm near Lexington. The foal, born last weekend, would have been the first with two Kentucky Derby-winning parents.

Names in the News

Sprinter Michael Johnson has dropped his threat to boycott events in Britain and will run at an IAAF meet in Sheffield on June 29.

Former Tulsa basketball coach Clarence Iba, 88, the younger brother of legendary Oklahoma State coach Hank Iba, died after surgery for an aneurysm in Fort Worth.